Suit challenges Santa Ana's sex offender law

SANTA ANA – A group that advocates on behalf of registered sex offenders has challenged Santa Ana's sex offender ordinance and registration process in the city of Santa Ana.

In a U.S. District Court lawsuit, California Reform Sex Offender Laws contends that the city's ordinance, given final approval last June, is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and violates the due process rights of registered sex offenders. The action was filed on behalf of two unnamed plaintiffs and the advocacy group.

The lawsuit seeks to prohibit the city from enforcing the ordinance and to nullify the law, which forbids registered sex offenders from entering parks and children's facilities.

"The City of Santa Ana is violating the state and federal constitutions," said Janice Bellucci, president of the group. "Not only are registrants prohibited from participating in most recreational areas in the city, they are not allowed to access public information in the city's library."

City officials declined comment, said spokesman Jose Gonzalez.

According to the suit, the city requires sex offenders to register inside the Santa Ana Jail for periods up to four hours as well to wear a prison uniform, and they're prohibited from making phone calls. The photographs are posted on the state's Megan's Law website.

"Photos of registrants wearing a prison uniform give the false impression that they are incarcerated," Bellucci said.

The lawsuit contends the process violates the Constitution because registrants are falsely imprisoned when placed in the Santa Ana Jail for their photos.

The city in 2006 adopted its first registration ordinance. Among the first in the state, it prohibited registered child sex offenders from being on or within 300 feet of designated children's facilities and parks to loiter or observe children.

The 2012 law took aim at all registered sex offenders, banning them from entering parks, children's facilities and specified sites, such as the Main Library. To offend the city's law is a misdemeanor.

County supervisors in April 2011 adopted a measure that makes it a misdemeanor for registered sex offenders to enter county parks and other recreational areas, such as beaches and playgrounds that children regularly use.

The Los Alamitos City Council in March amended its code that bans registered sex offenders from public places, narrowing the definition of "sex offender" to those who specifically have been convicted of a sexual offence involving a minor.

The ordinances have left a number of lawsuits in their wake.

A registered sex offender – who served his sentence more than 15 years ago – last year sued Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Lake Forest and Seal Beach, alleging the bans violated his constitutional rights. Cypress has been sued by sex offenders who say the city has violated their rights by imposing unreasonable residency limits.

Lake Forest repealed its law last December. The Huntington Beach City Council in January amended the city's ordinance to allow the chief of police to write case-by-case exemptions based on his discretion.

According to the advocacy group, a panel of three Orange County judges found the Fullerton's ordinance prohibiting registrants from entering and being near public parks unlawful

The 4th District Court of Appeal has agreed to review Orange County's ban on convicted sex offenders in parks after a lower-court panel reversed a conviction.